Ubuntu 24.04.2 Delayed, Won’t Be Released This Week

22 hours 29 minutes ago

If you were expecting Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS to drop tomorrow, I come bearing some bad news: the release has been delayed by a week. Canonical’s Utkarsh Gupta reports that an ‘unfortunate incident’ resulting in some of the newly spun Ubuntu 24.04.2 images (for flavours) being built without the new HWE kernel on board (which is Linux 6.11, for those unaware). Now, including a new kernel version on the ISO is kind of the whole point of the second Ubuntu point release. It has to be there so that the latest long-term support release can boot on and support the latest […]

You're reading Ubuntu 24.04.2 Delayed, Won’t Be Released This Week, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Joey Sneddon

GNOME’s Website Just Got a Major Redesign

1 day 5 hours ago

GNOME rolled out a huge revamp to its official website today, and I have to say: it’s a solid improvement over the old one. The official GNOME website has an important role, serving as both showcase and springboard for those looking to learn more about the desktop environment, the app ecosystem, developer documentation, or how to get involved and support the project. Arranging, presenting, and meeting all of those needs on a single landing page—and doing it in an engaging, encouraging way? Difficult to pull off—but GNOME has. The new design looks flashy and modern. It’s more spacious and vibrant, […]

You're reading GNOME’s Website Just Got a Major Redesign, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Joey Sneddon

Clapper Media Player Adds New Features, Official Windows Build

1 day 19 hours ago

A new version of the slick Clapper media player is out with several neat improvements Not newly new, I should say. I hadn’t run a flatpak update in Ubuntu I an age so I only jus noticed an update pending for this nifty little media player. But I figured I’d write about it since it’s been around 10 months since its last major release (save a bug fix release last summer). So what’s new? Well, Clapper 0.8.0 intros a new libpeas-based plugin system in its underlying Clapper library (which other apps can make use of to playback media, as Mastodon client […]

You're reading Clapper Media Player Adds New Features, Official Windows Build, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Joey Sneddon

KDE Plasma 6.3 Released, This is What’s New

2 days 7 hours ago

A new version of the KDE Plasma desktop environment is out and, as you’d expect, the update is packed with new features, UI tweaks, and performance boosts. KDE Plasma 6.3 is the fourth major update in the KDE Plasma 6.x series and it also marks the one-year anniversary of the KDE Plasma 6.0 debut – something KDE notes in its announcement: One year on, with the teething problems a major new release inevitably brings firmly behind us, Plasma’s developers have worked on fine-tuning, squashing bugs and adding features to Plasma 6 — turning it into the best desktop environment for […]

You're reading KDE Plasma 6.3 Released, This is What’s New, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Joey Sneddon

ONLYOFFICE 8.3 Released, Now Supports Apple iWork Files

4 days 4 hours ago

A new version of ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors, a free, open-source office suite for Windows, macOS, and Linux, is now available to download. ONLYOFFICE 8.3 brings a bunch of new features and nimble enhancements spread throughout the full suite, which is composed of word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, form, and PDF editing apps. Such as? Well, the headline feature is the ability to open and work with Apple iWork documents (.pages, .numbers, .key) and Hancom Office files (.hwp, .hwpx) . Opening these documents will convert them to OOXML to support editing. It’s not possible to edit the native files themselves, nor export/save edits back […]

You're reading ONLYOFFICE 8.3 Released, Now Supports Apple iWork Files, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Joey Sneddon

How to Disable ‘App is Ready’ Notifications in Ubuntu

5 days 8 hours ago

Finding yourself annoyed at those ‘window is ready’ notifications which pop-up when you open some apps in GNOME Shell on Ubuntu? If so, you can disable them by installing a GNOME Shell extension. Now, notifications are helpful—heck, vital when they inform, alert, or indicate that something requires our immediate attention or actioning. But “app is ready” notifications? I don’t find them anything other than obvious. I’m not amnesic; I know the app is ready – I just opened it! They aren’t predictable either. Some apps show them, others don’t. It depends on the app’s metadata, how fast app initialisation is (you’ll see them more […]

You're reading How to Disable ‘App is Ready’ Notifications in Ubuntu, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Joey Sneddon

Ghostty Terminal Now Supports Server-Side Decorations on Linux

6 days 17 hours ago

A new version of Ghostty emerged this week and in this post I run-through the key changes. For those unfamiliar with it, Ghostty is an open-source terminal emulator written in Zig. It offers a “fast, feature-rich, and native” experience — doesn’t claim to be faster, more featured, or go deeper than other native terminals, just offer a competitive combo of the three. Given it does pretty much everything other terminal emulators do, fans faithful to more established terminal emulators won’t find Ghostty‘s presence spooks ’em into switching. It’s a passion project there to be used (or not) depending on need, taste, […]

You're reading Ghostty Terminal Now Supports Server-Side Decorations on Linux, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Joey Sneddon

Leveraging Tmux and Screen for Advanced Session Management

1 week ago
by George Whittaker Introduction

In the realm of Linux, efficiency and productivity are not just goals but necessities. One of the most powerful tools in a power user's arsenal are terminal multiplexers, specifically tmux and Screen. These tools enhance the command line interface experience by allowing users to run multiple terminal sessions within a single window, detach them and continue working in the background, and reattach them at will. This guide delves into the world of tmux and Screen, showing you how to harness their capabilities to streamline your workflow and boost your productivity.

Understanding Terminal Multiplexers What is a Terminal Multiplexer?

A terminal multiplexer is a software application that allows multiple terminal sessions to be accessed and controlled from a single screen. Users can switch between these sessions seamlessly, without the need to open multiple terminal windows. This capability is particularly useful in remote session management, where sessions need to remain active even when the user is disconnected.

Key Features and Benefits
  • Session Management: Keep processes running even after disconnecting.
  • Window Splitting: Divide your screen into multiple windows.
  • Persistent Sessions: Reconnect to sessions after disconnection without losing state.
  • Multiple Views: View different sessions side-by-side.
Getting Started with Screen Brief History and Development

Screen, developed by GNU, has been a staple among system administrators and power users for decades. It provides the basic functionality needed to manage multiple windows in a single session.

Installing Screen

To install Screen on Ubuntu or Debian:

sudo apt-get install screen

On Red Hat or CentOS:

sudo yum install screen

On Fedora:

sudo dnf install screen

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George Whittaker

LibreOffice 25.2 Released, This is What’s New

1 week ago

LibreOffice 25.2 has been released, this year’s first major update to the leading open-source office software for Windows, macOS, and Linux. As you’d expect, the update delivers a sizeable set of changes spread throughout the productivity suite, including notable UI changes, accessibility improvements, and more important interoperability buffs to support cross-suite workflows. It’s important to remember that open-source software like LibreOffice doesn’t appear out of thin air; it’s made by humans, many unpaid, others paid to work on specific parts only. We all have personal wish-lists of features and changes we want our favourite open-source apps to add, but we […]

You're reading LibreOffice 25.2 Released, This is What’s New, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Joey Sneddon

Installing Ubuntu on WSL in Windows 11 is Now Easier

1 week 1 day ago

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) user? If so, you will be pleased to hear that Ubuntu is now available in Microsoft’s new tar-based distro format — no need to use the sluggish Microsoft Store. Canonical announced the news today, noting that “the new tar-based WSL distro format allows developers and system administrators to distribute, install, and manage Ubuntu WSL instances from tar files without relying on the Microsoft Store.” In not relying on the Microsoft Store for distribution, it’s less hassle for enterprises to roll out (and customise) Ubuntu on WSL at scale as images packaged in using the new […]

You're reading Installing Ubuntu on WSL in Windows 11 is Now Easier, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Joey Sneddon

Enhancing System Security and Efficiency through User and Group Management

1 week 2 days ago
by George Whittaker Introduction

Linux, a powerhouse in the world of operating systems, is renowned for its robustness, security, and scalability. Central to these strengths is the effective management of users and groups, which ensures secure and efficient access to system resources. This guide delves into the intricacies of user and group management, providing a foundation for both newcomers and seasoned administrators to enhance their Linux system administration skills.

Understanding Users in Linux

In Linux, a user is anyone who interacts with the operating system, be it a human or a software agent. Users can be categorized into three types:

  1. Root User: Also known as the superuser, the root user has unfettered access to the system. This account can modify any file, run privileged commands, and has administrative rights over other user accounts.

  2. System Users: These accounts are created to run specific services such as web servers or database systems. Typically, these users do not have login capabilities and are used to segregate duties for security purposes.

  3. Regular Users: These are the typical accounts created for actual people using the system. They have more limited privileges compared to the root user, which can be adjusted through group memberships or permission changes.

Each user is uniquely identified by a User ID (UID). The UID for the root user is always 0, while UIDs for other users usually start from 1000 upwards by default.

Understanding Groups in Linux

A group in Linux is a collection of users who share certain privileges and access rights. Groups make it easier to manage permissions for a collection of users, rather than having to assign permissions individually.

  • Primary Group: When a user is created, they are automatically assigned a primary group. This group is typically named after the username and is used for setting the default permissions when the user creates new files or directories.
  • Secondary Groups: Users can be added to additional groups, allowing them more granular access to resources.

Groups are identified by a Group ID (GID), similar to how users are identified by UIDs.

User and Group Management Tools

Linux offers a suite of command-line tools for managing users and groups:

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George Whittaker

Firefox 135 Brings New Tab Page Tweaks, AI Chatbot Access + More

1 week 2 days ago

Right on schedule, a new update to the Mozilla Firefox web browser is available for download. Last month’s Firefox 134 release saw the New Tab page layout refreshed for users in the United States, let Linux go hands-on with touch-hold gestures, seeded Ecosia search engine, and fine-tuned the performance of the built-in pop-up blocker. Firefox 135, as is probably intuit, brings an equally sizeable set of changes to the fore including a wider rollout of its new New Tab page layout to all locales where Stories are available: It’s not a massive makeover, granted. But the new layout adjusts the […]

You're reading Firefox 135 Brings New Tab Page Tweaks, AI Chatbot Access + More, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Joey Sneddon

How to Fix Spotify ‘No PubKey’ Error on Ubuntu

1 week 3 days ago

Do you use the official Spotify DEB on Ubuntu (or an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution like Linux Mint)? If so, you’ll be used to receiving updates to the Spotify Linux client direct from the official Spotify APT repo, right alongside all your other DEB-based software. Thing is: if you haven’t checked for updates from the command line recently you might not be aware the that security key used to ‘sign’ packages from the Spotify APT repo stopped working at the end of last year. Annoying, but not catastrophic as it—thankfully—doesn’t stop the Spotify Linux app from working just pollutes terminal output […]

You're reading How to Fix Spotify ‘No PubKey’ Error on Ubuntu, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Joey Sneddon

Linux Icon Pack Papirus Gets First Update in 8 Months

1 week 4 days ago

Fans of the Papirus icon theme for Linux desktops will be happy hear a new version is now available to download. Paprius‘s first update in 2025 improves support for KDE Plasma 6 by adding Konversation, KTorrent and RedShift tray icons, KDE and Plasma logo glyphs for use in ‘start menu’ analogues, as well as an assortment of symbolic icons. Retro gaming fans will appreciate an expansion in mime type support in this update. Papirus now includes file icons for ROMs used for emulating ZX Spectrum, SEGA Dreamcast, SEGA Saturn, MSX, and Neo Geo Pocket consoles; and Papirus now uses different […]

You're reading Linux Icon Pack Papirus Gets First Update in 8 Months, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Joey Sneddon

GNOME Introduces New UI & Monospace Adwaita Fonts

1 week 4 days ago

GNOME has announced a change to its default UI and monospace fonts ahead of the upcoming GNOME 48 release — a typographic turnabout that won’t impact Ubuntu users directly, though. Should you feel a sense of deja vu here it’s because GNOME trialled a font switch last year, during development of GNOME 47. Back then, it replaced its home-grown Cantarell font with the popular open-source sans Inter font (trivia: used by Zorin OS). The change was reverted prior to the GNOME 47 due to various UI quirks, coverage issues, and compatibility (thus underlying the importance of testing things out prior […]

You're reading GNOME Introduces New UI & Monospace Adwaita Fonts, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Joey Sneddon

Try Mozilla’s New AI Detector Add-On for Firefox

1 week 5 days ago

Want to find out if the text you’re reading online was written by an real human or spat out by a large language model (LLM) trying to sound like one? Mozilla’s Fakespot Deepfake Detector Firefox add-on may can help give you an indication. Similar to online AI detector tools, the add-on can analyse text (of 32 words or more) to identify patterns, traits, and tells common in AI generated or manipulated text. It uses Mozilla’s proprietary ApolloDFT engine and a set of open-source detection models. But unlike some tools, Mozilla’s Fakespot Deepfake Detector browser extension is free to use, does […]

You're reading Try Mozilla’s New AI Detector Add-On for Firefox, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Joey Sneddon

High Tide is a Promising New Linux TIDAL Client

2 weeks ago

Linux users hunting for a native client to stream music from TIDAL will want to keep an eye on a promising new open-source app called High Tide. High Tide is an unofficial but native Linux client for the TIDAL music streaming service. It’s written in Python, uses GTK4/libadwaita UI, and leverages official TIDAL APIs for playback. TIDAL, often positioned as the ‘pro-artist music streaming platform’, isn’t as popular as industry titan Spotify (likely because it doesn’t offer a ‘free’ ad-supported tier) but is nonetheless a solid rival to it in terms of features and catalogue breadth. Windows, macOS, Android and […]

You're reading High Tide is a Promising New Linux TIDAL Client, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Joey Sneddon

Debian Package Dependency Management: Handling Dependencies

2 weeks ago
by George Whittaker Introduction

Debian-based Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and Debian itself, rely on robust package management systems to install, update, and remove software efficiently. One of the most critical aspects of package management is handling dependencies—ensuring that all required libraries and packages are present for an application to function correctly.

Dependency management is crucial for maintaining system stability, avoiding broken packages, and ensuring software compatibility. This article explores how Debian handles package dependencies, how to manage them effectively, and how to troubleshoot common dependency-related issues.

Understanding Debian Package Management

Debian uses the .deb package format, which contains precompiled binaries, configuration files, and metadata describing the package, including its dependencies. The primary tools for handling Debian packages are:

  • dpkg: A low-level package manager used for installing, removing, and querying .deb packages.

  • APT (Advanced Package Tool): A high-level package management system that resolves dependencies automatically and fetches required packages from repositories.

Without proper dependency handling, installing a single package could become a nightmare of manually finding and installing supporting files. APT streamlines this process by automating dependency resolution.

How Dependencies Work in Debian

Dependencies ensure that an application has all the necessary libraries and components to function correctly. In Debian, dependencies are defined in the package’s control file. These dependencies are categorized as follows:

  • Depends: Mandatory dependencies required for the package to work.

  • Recommends: Strongly suggested dependencies that enhance functionality but are not mandatory.

  • Suggests: Optional packages that provide additional features.

  • Breaks: Indicates that a package is incompatible with certain versions of another package.

  • Conflicts: Prevents the installation of two incompatible packages.

  • Provides: Allows one package to act as a substitute for another (useful for virtual packages).

For example, if you attempt to install a software package using APT, it will automatically fetch and install all required dependencies based on the Depends field.

Managing Dependencies with APT

APT simplifies dependency management by automatically resolving and installing required packages. Some essential APT commands include:

  • Updating package lists: sudo apt update

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George Whittaker

Thunderbird Email Client Moving to Monthly Feature Drops

2 weeks ago

The Thunderbird email client is making its monthly ‘release channel’ builds the default download starting in March. “We’re excited to announce that starting with the 135.0 release in March 2025, the Thunderbird Release channel will be the default download,” Corey Bryant, manager of Thunderbird Release Operations, shares in an update on the project’s discussion hub. Right now, users who visit the Thunderbird website and hit the giant download get the latest Extended Support Release (ESR) build by default. It gets one major feature update a year plus smaller bug fix and security updates issued in-between. The version of Thunderbird Ubuntu […]

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Joey Sneddon

Confirmed: Ubuntu Dev Discussions Moving to Matrix

2 weeks 1 day ago

Ubuntu’s key developers have agreed to switch to Matrix as the primary platform for real-time development communications involving the distro. From March, Matrix will replace IRC as the place where critical Ubuntu development conversations, requests, meetings, and other vital chatter must take place. Developers asked to ensure they have a presence on the platform so they are reachable. Only the current #ubuntu-devel and #ubuntu-release Libera IRC channels are moving to Matrix, but other Ubuntu development-related channels can choose to move –officially, given some projects were using Matrix over IRC already. As a result, any major requests to/of the key Ubuntu […]

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Joey Sneddon